“A military man can scarcely pride himself on having ‘smitten a sleeping enemy’; it is more a matter of shame, simply, for the one smitten.”

Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku (1884 to 1943), speaking about Pearl Harbour in 1942

Yamamoto, original name Takano Isoroku, was a Japanese naval officer who conceived of the surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbour on 07 December 1941.

After graduating from the Japanese Naval Staff College in 1916 he was adopted by the Yamamoto family, hence the name change. He studied English at Harvard University between 1919-1921, other roles took him back to the US between 1926 and 1928.

Yamamoto became one of Japan’s foremost aviation officers, favouring aircraft carriers over ‘obsolete’ battleships. At the time of his death, he was the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet.